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לָחַם

𐤋𐤇𐤌

lâcham

H3898 verb

SILEX Entry

Root לחם to wage war, fight, engage in battle

Definition

To engage in battle or wage war; to fight in armed conflict, either as an individual or a group. In rarer contexts, the verb can connote struggle, contend, or engage in conflict of a non-military nature. The sense of 'feed on' or 'devour' is not attested in Biblical Hebrew for this root, and likely arises from confusion with similar roots.

Semantic Range

to fight, to wage war, to do battle, to engage in armed conflict, to contend (in non-literal or poetic contexts), to struggle

Root / Etymology

The root is לחם (lamed-chet-mem), commonly associated in Biblical Hebrew with the notion of battle or combat. Although this root shares consonants with לחם ('bread,' H3899), the sense of 'to eat' or 'to feed' is derived from a separate but similarly spelled root; there is no direct etymological connection between 'to wage war' and 'bread/eat.'

Historical & Contextual Notes

In the Hebrew Bible, לָחַם is consistently used in military contexts, describing armed conflict among Israelite, Judahite, and foreign peoples. Most occurrences refer to literal warfare or battle, though some prophets and poets extend its usage metaphorically to acts of striving or contending. The verb is often used with 'against' (עַל or בְּ), indicating the opposing force. Unlike other Hebrew verbs related to violence (e.g., נלחם 'to strive,' עָרַךְ 'to arrange [for battle]'), לָחַם denotes active participation in hostilities, typically implying mutual engagement. In post-biblical Hebrew and later usage, לָחַם sometimes appears (with clarification) for non-military contest, but in the Tanakh it almost always refers to actual combat. English translations frequently render the verb as 'fight,' 'make war,' or 'battle,' capturing its core contextual meaning. The occasional translation ‘devour’ or 'feed on' found in older resources is not supported by contextual evidence from biblical texts and reflects confusion stemming from the homonymic noun לחם ('bread'). In sum, לָחַם should be understood as 'to fight' or 'to wage war,' never as 'to eat.'

Translation Consistency

primary "fight" 137 occurrences

'Fight' is the most natural, common English verb that covers the primary senses of לָחַם — to engage in battle, wage war, do battle, or contend. It fits both individual and collective combat and can naturally extend to non-literal struggle/contend. It is widely attested in the translations list and is preferable to narrower or more formal options like 'wage' or 'engage.'

Alternatives (40 occurrences):
"engage in battle" (25x) "engaged in battle" (4x) "eat" (4x) "wage war" (1x) "burning heat" (1x) "contend in battle" (1x) "warring" (1x) "warred" (1x) "those waging war" (1x) "warred against" (1x)

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

a primitive root; to feed on; figuratively, to consume; by implication, to battle (as destruction); devour, eat, [idiom] ever, fight(-ing), overcome, prevail, (make) war(-ring).

Bantu Hebrew

No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.

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Root Family

לחם (l-ḥ-m) — to wage war, fight, engage in battle

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H1035 בֵּית לֶחֶם bread
H3433 יָשֻׁבִי לֶחֶם bread
H3894 לָחוּם his edible portion
H3899 לֶחֶם in the bread
H3900 לְחֶם bread

Word Forms

38 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2 Occurrences
H3898-09 לְ/הִלָּחֵ֖ם lehilachem HR/VNc to fight to engage in battle to engage in battle 42
H3898-15 נִלְחָ֥ם nilecham HVNrmsa fought the one who is warring the one who is fighting 23
H3898-28 וַ/יִּלָּ֥חֶם vayilachem HC/VNw3ms and fought and he engaged in battle and he fought 20
H3898-26 וַ/יִּֽלָּחֲמ֖וּ vayilachamu HC/VNw3mp and fought and they engaged in battle and they fought 15
H3898-17 נִלְחָמִ֥ים nilechamim HVNrmpa fighting the battling ones the fighting ones 8
H3898-18 נִלְחָ֔מוּ nilechamu HVNp3cp they fought they engaged in battle they engaged in battle 7
H3898-20 תִלָּ֣חֲמ֔וּ tilachamu HVNi2mp fight you will wage war you will fight 6
H3898-37 וְ/נִלְחֲמ֥וּ venilechamu HC/VNq3cp and they will fight and they waged war and they will fight 6
H3898-32 וְ/נִלְחַם venilecham HC/VNq3ms and fight and he fought and he will fight 5
H3898-31 וְ/נִֽלָּחֲמָה֙ venilachamah HC/VNh1cp and we will fight and let us wage war and let us fight 4

Occurrences in Scripture

177 occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2
H3898-32 Exodus 1:10 וְ/נִלְחַם venilecham HC/VNq3ms and fight and he fought and fights
H3898-38 Exodus 14:14 יִלָּחֵ֣ם yilachem HVNi3ms will-fight he will wage war he will fight
H3898-15 Exodus 14:25 נִלְחָ֥ם nilecham HVNrmsa fights the one who is warring the one who is fighting
H3898-28 Exodus 17:8 וַ/יִּלָּ֥חֶם vayilachem HC/VNw3ms and fought and he engaged in battle and he fought
H3898-06 Exodus 17:9 הִלָּחֵ֣ם hilachem HVNv2ms fight Engage in battle! fight
H3898-09 Exodus 17:10 לְ/הִלָּחֵ֖ם lehilachem HR/VNc to fight to engage in battle to engage in battle
H3898-28 Numbers 21:1 וַ/יִּלָּ֨חֶם֙ vayilachem HC/VNw3ms and he fought and he engaged in battle and he fought
H3898-28 Numbers 21:23 וַ/יִּלָּ֖חֶם vayilachem HC/VNw3ms and he fought and he engaged in battle and he fought
H3898-15 Numbers 21:26 נִלְחַ֗ם nilecham HVNp3ms fought the one who is warring the one who is fighting
H3898-09 Numbers 22:11 לְ/הִלָּ֥חֶם lehilachem HR/VNc to fight to engage in battle to fight
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